Video Games

more stuff to do perhaps

I see this quite a lot, but then I thought it's a story game in an open world, rather than an open world stuffed with things to do (aka GTA). I actually liked that it didn't suffer from "job fatigue". That's me though.

I'm just waiting for the X/S update for Witcher 3 now...

Do you actively play? I heard there is a proper story implemented now so it's not just roam around, is that true?

I was expecting a bit of a meh-storm, on account of the update being an anti-climax, but this...

I do actively play, yes. Story? Some. When it first came out there was only a very thin, ambiguous quest line designed to get you to travel to the galaxy centre and to another galaxy (there being 255 of those). Since then they've added several tutorial quests - almost every time they add a significant feature, like pirate systems, there's a small quest line that introduces you to the concept - and a less vague (and quite subtle, clever and occasionally funny) quest line that has some deep philosophical things to say about the nature of the No Man's Sky universe and provides another route to travelling to another galaxy, but they're hardly rich stories and once you are in your second galaxy you're back to roaming and base building.

There's an unusually wide range of things to do (base building, exploration, managing a trading fleet, fighting pirates or being a pirate, derelict space freighters with rogue security systems and dangerous creatures, undersea exploration, all kinds of land vehicles and even a mech) but none of those things is as deep as they are in games that specialise in one of those things. It stands somewhere between Minecraft and Elite Dangerous. And one of the things it shares with ED is that you have to create your own purpose and story. Another is that playing it is a bit like having a job.

To be honest, I'm still playing it because when they added VR they did it better than many games which were designed for VR from the start. Almost every aspect of the game is more fun in VR, particularly the vehicles and the space combat. Otherwise I'd have moved on after a while, or just be dipping into it once or twice a month.

If by "now" you mean with this update, they haven't changed the story but collated all the lore you discover, in one place for you to refer back to. [shrug]

I don't think it's particularly story-driven and you'd likely be disappointed if you want something with a strong narrative.

My "sweaty" (+2k hours) take, is that NMS is all about the journey, not the destination: ie it's not about actually getting an S-class this or min/maxing that, it's what you go through to get your S-class this and what you learn min/maxing.

it's not about actually getting an S-class this or min/maxing that, it's what you go through to get your S-class this and what you learn min/maxing.

Very much. But the min/max fetishists are often the loudest faction in any game where it's possible and that's the case with NMS. They obssess about farms that exploit features/glitches to generate the most money in the shortest time in a game where past a certain amount of money how much you have is meaningless. NMS has no endgame and one challenge for anybody is to find things to do after a while, but they take so many shortcuts (player-curated databases of where to find the best stuff, duping, endlessly reloading saves until the RNG gives them what they want) that they max out their stuff in days rather than hundreds of hours. There's no reasoning with most of them; it's an OCD mentality on a par with wild bird egg collecting. Now the manbabies have had their collections devalued.

The update actually has some pretty good stuff that's going to make the game more replayable and nuanced and also put its eventual EOL date further into the future, but the babies now hate every aspect of it. If they'd actually make good on their threats and just delete the game and leave the player communities, it'd be a much nicer universe for the rest of us, but it seems they're digging in for a war.

If anyone is interested my PlayStation VR set is over on the classifieds misc section. £50 for the whole kit and it’s the most recent single chord version, ps5 adaptor also included.

Does anyone here have a Switch OLED for sale in good nick? Son driving me mad and caving…

After (preferably) brand new Xbox One controller.

Thanks

Sony Dualsense Edge price confirmed.
£209
Punchy.

Just had my new Xbox series x delivered. For the past couple of years, I've just been logged into my ms / xbox account on everything and I've absolutely no idea what the password is... And to reset it apparently takes 30 days!

I've got my One sat on the network, all logged in. Wondering if there's a way to change it from there. The Xbox app on my phone isn't logged in because I changed phones recently (and factory reset the old one)

The new console is just going to have to sit on the shelf for a month unless there's a way around this. Thinking about setting up a new profile, but then I can't cancel all the subscriptions on the old one without getting in. Upsetting.

ooof

I had no idea what one of these was and googled it expecting it to be a handheld console or something based on that price.

50% more than the premium xbox elite controller. I was keen but at that price they can do one.

There are 3rd party back button kits. Kinda tempted to try one on my spare
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09MJW4Z5F/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3

Sony; for the payers.

Can you phone them up and get it sorted that way?

Apparently not, it'll get sorted in time but there's no conditions where they'll waive it.

I tried to go in via my old xbox 360 (got more menu items allowing you to reset passwords apparently) but that wasn't possible. I've also locked my account due to log-in failures so I'm going to wait it out in case the Game Pass on my One stops working!

In the end I jumped down the GBA modding rabbit hole and settled in. Got a backlit screen, new shell, buttons and rubbers and a nice glass screen. Will look at getting a rechargeable battery for it and then I’m all set.

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Oooh shiny. Makes me want to play MarioKart GBA, the best of the series.

Switch game recommendations for a melt with flu please. Under £20 as I likely won’t be picking the thing up again until the next Zelda comes out so it only needs to last me a day or two

Two Point Hospital

Inspired by wanting the new ps5 edge controller but not inspired by the £210 price I installed a back button kit on one of my standard controllers. It seems pretty good, easy enough to do and the buttons have a really satisfying click.

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Into The Breach if you like turn based strategy, Kentucky Route Zero if you want adventure/story, Bayonetta 1 if you want to hit buttons and kill god.

Thanks chaps. Kentucky Route Zero looks decent but I’ve gone for Cult of the Lamb as it looks slightly more on my intellectual level right now